'Dragon Ball FighterZ' Review: Goku Said To Knock You Out

There are two types of gamers who play fighting games and these two types of gamers look for two very different things when reading reviews of fighting games.

First, there's the casual crowd. These gamers may play all sorts of video games---they may, indeed, be "hardcore" gamers in a broad sense of the word---but when it comes to fighting games they're just here for the story mode and some local brawls. They've played fighting games before---some Street Fighter, some Mortal Kombat, maybe some Injustice or Tekken---but they aren't competitive players and they don't get into the nitty gritty of each game's mechanics.

Then there's the competitive crowd. These players are part of the Fighting Game Community or FGC. This is comprised of high-skill players, eSports pros, and the people who just enjoy watching high-level players compete. This group of gamers is obsessed with the finer points of each fighting game: Not just combos, but actual frame counts for each animation, and fluency in jargon like 'footsies' 'DP' and 'OTG.'

Like many reviewers out there, I'm in the former group. I've played lots of fighting games over the years, beginning with Street Fighter II on the SNES and Mortal Kombat in the arcades. I've played Killer Instinct, Persona 4 Arena, Skullgirls, various iterations of Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat over the years, Injustice 1 and 2, Marvel Vs Capcom and more I can't recall. I still consider myself a casual. I've remained largely uninterested in competitive play or the eSports side of the FGC. I like playing story modes and couch vs matches with friends and family. I'm not a bad player, but I'm far from a high-level player. I'm not an inexperienced player, but I'm not a hardcore fighting game player either.

I mention all of this to give you a sense of where I'm coming from with Dragon Ball FighterZ. I have no desire to discuss this title's game balance, for instance, because we won't actually understand what that means very well until the game's been out in the wild for a few weeks and the pros have gotten their hands on it. I have no way of discussing whether this will be a big hit with FGC or a massive eSports success. I'm not coming at this game from that angle. For that, there will be plenty of eSports experts and high-level YouTubers down the road who will go through each character with a fine-tooth comb. The community will hash all this out at launch and in the weeks and months following launch.

Dragon Ball FighterZCredit: Bandai Namco

I'm coming at Dragon Ball FighterZ as someone who genuinely enjoys playing fighting games without all the pressure of being terribly good at them or learning every bit of lingo.

I'm also not much of a Dragon Ball Z fan. I've seen some episodes of the show in the past---some of my friends were pretty obsessed with it---but it never really caught my fancy. I've also played previous Dragon Ball games and was never particularly impressed.

All that's changed with Dragon Ball FighterZ. The game is an absolute blast. It's extremely accessible, with controls that feel both intuitive and incredibly fluid. But accessibility doesn't come at the cost of depth.

While the control scheme for each character is virtually identical, each character still plays differently with various special moves and types of attacks. Naturally, high-level players will eek out all the nuance, but for newcomers and casuals it's very easy to jump in and start playing. Better yet, the game has a fantastic set of tutorials that will help even inexperienced players get up to speed quickly.

The controls are simple, but like most good fighting games it's one of those 'simple to learn, hard to master' titles. Gamers familiar with developer Arc System Works' previous titles will have a good sense of how the game plays, as it carries over many of the same mechanics as many of the studio's past titles. I was instantly reminded of Persona 4 Arena, for instance. Others will notice the similarities to Guilty Gear, though this is more than just that game with a Dragon Ball Z skin. It's more like if Guilty Gear and Marvel vs Capcom had a baby.

Here's a breakdown of the basic button mapping:

Light attack - Square/X

Medium attack - Triangle/Y

Heavy attack - Circle/B

Special attack - Cross/A

Z assist 1 - Left bumper

Z assist 2 - Left trigger

Change character - Hold left trigger

Dragon Rush - Right bumper/Light + medium attack buttons

Super Dash - Right trigger/Heavy + special attack buttons

Ki Charge - Light + special attack buttons (Square/X + Cross/A)

Vanish - Medium + heavy attack buttons (Triangle/Y + Circle/B)

Dragon Ball FighterZCredit: Bandai Namco

Players choose three characters and can swap these out during play or use 'Z assist' to have an alternate character dash in for a quick move before dashing back out. There's lots of dashing in the game, with two taps on the left or right D-pad buttons dashing a character forward or backward in or out of combat.

The game's story mode deals with the Dragon Ball Z cast of characters facing off against evil clones while mysterious 'waves' wreak havoc on the world. Goku is trapped inside his own body that's now being controlled by the player (very meta) and you gradually gather up the other principle characters while fighting bad guys and clones of the good guys.

I honestly can't speak much to the story as I'm not a fan of the series, but it was enjoyable enough just to go through all the fights and learn along the way. While there are tutorials in the training section of the game, the story is essentially just a glorified tutorial as well. You gather up new fighters, maneuver increasingly complex battle maps and slightly tougher foes, and learn how each fighter plays along the way.

That being said, the enemies are rarely tough enough to put up a good fight. I got so many perfect scores I almost convinced myself that I was good at the game. That being said---and this could be my lack of overall Dragon Ball interest/knowledge---I found the story a little boring and many of the fights felt like little more than padding.

Arcade mode strips out the story and provides somewhat more challenging bad guys, so that might be a better place for more experienced players to train. It's an interesting three-path system that grades you between matches. Play well and you'll stick to the harder path; play poorly and you'll get knocked down to easier paths. It's a nice way to challenge yourself.

Then, of course, there's multiplayer, both online and local, where the real fun begins. No matter how good the AI can be, playing against other humans is always more of a challenge.

Alongside all of this is a system of loot boxes to customize your characters in the world map section of the game. You earn in-game credits to purchase these (they're not available to buy with real money) and are essentially superfluous to the game proper.

Graphically, the game looks fantastic. It's every bit as good-looking as the actual anime, if not more so. Everything from the colorful artwork to the fast animations is top-notch.

Dragon Ball FighterZ is a fighting game that both casuals and hardcore fighting gamers can enjoy. I suspect it will become a big hit in the fighting game community but that shouldn't deter new players as there's something for everyone in the game. The lack of an exploitative loot box system is also a nice plus, though a $35 season pass for 8 new DLC characters strikes me as a little pricey.

Nevertheless, I give the game a glowing Buy on my Buy/Hold/Sell scale. There's a robust online community playing the game right now. There are no predatory loot boxes to contend with. And the fighting itself is absolutely glorious for both fans and non-fans of the series, and for both casuals and hardcore fighting gamers. You just can't lose with Dragon Ball FighterZ. Well, unless you lose in a fight, that is.